The present invention relates to a bill counting machine and, particularly, such a machine having a small size which can prevent bills from being jammed when the counting operation is restarted, and can sort unacceptable bills from acceptable bills and reliably collect them.
In a bill counting machine, it is required to separate an unacceptable bill from acceptable bills and collect it when it is detected and, therefore, various methods have been proposed for separating an unacceptable bill from acceptable bills and collecting it when it is detected.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-41439 discloses a bill counting machine constituted so as to take out bills placed on a hopper one by one, discriminate the denomination of the bills and stack them in a bill stacking section, wherein the counting operation is stopped when an unacceptable bill is detected.
Further, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-22922 discloses a bill counting machine constituted so as to separate an unacceptable bill from acceptable bills and collect it by feeding the unacceptable bill to an unacceptable bill collecting section separately from a bill stacking section where acceptable bills are stacked as each acceptable bill is detected.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-342487 and 8-221543 disclose bill counting machines constituted so as to separate an unacceptable bill from acceptable bills and collect it when the unacceptable bill is detected by stopping a vane wheel just at the time the unacceptable bill is held between adjacent vanes of the vane wheel for stacking bills in a bill stacking section.
However, as pointed out in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-41439, if only the operation of the bill counting machine is stopped when an unacceptable bill is detected, it is impossible to predict where the unacceptable bill will be positioned in the bill transportation passage, and in the case where the handling speed of bills is high or the length of the bill transportation passage is short in a small bill counting machine, since the bill following the unacceptable bill is fed into the bill transportation passage at a time when the bill counting machine is stopped, it is difficult to identify the unacceptable bill, whereby the unacceptable bill cannot be separated from acceptable bills and be reliably collected.
Further, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-22922, in the case where an unacceptable bill collecting section is provided separately from a bill stacking section where acceptable bills are stacked, the bill counting machine inevitably becomes large.
Furthermore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-342487 and 8-221543, in the case where an unacceptable bill is separated from acceptable bills and collected when the unacceptable bill is detected by stopping a vane wheel at a time the unacceptable bill is just held between adjacent vanes of the vane wheel for stacking bills in a bill stacking section, it is practically difficult to stop the vane wheel just at the time the unacceptable bill is held between adjacent vanes of the vane wheel for stacking bills in a bill stacking section, and when the handling speed of bills is high or the length of the bill transportation passage is short in a small bill counting machine, it is difficult to predict where the bill following the unacceptable bill and fed into the bill transportation passage at the time the bill counting machine is stopped will be stopped in the bill transportation passage, whereby there is some risk of the bill following the unacceptable bill jamming when the operation of the bill counting machine is restarted.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a bill counting machine of small size which can prevent bills from jamming when the counting operation is restarted, and can sort unacceptable bills from acceptable bills and reliably collect them.
The above and other objects of the present invention can be accomplished by a bill counting machine comprising a bill setting section where bills to be counted are set, a bill take-out means for taking out bills set in the bill setting section one by one into a main body of the bill counting machine, bill conveying means for conveying the bills taken out into the main body of the bill counting machine in a bill conveying passage, a sensor device for detecting optical properties and/or magnetic properties of each bill and producing detection data of the bill, reference data storing means for storing reference data of bills, discriminating and counting means for comparing the detection data of the bill produced by the sensor device with the reference data of bills, thereby discriminating whether or not the bill is acceptable, the denomination of the bill and whether bills are being conveyed by the bill conveying means one by one and counting bills to be counted, and a bill stacking section, the bill counting machine further comprising a stopper locatable at a projecting position in the bill conveying passage downstream of the sensor device, the discriminating and counting means being constituted so as not to count a bill discriminated as unacceptable and a following bill or not to count two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and a following bill when it discriminates that the bill is unacceptable or that two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed and to locate the stopper in the projecting position, the stopper located at the projecting position being accessible from outside of the main body of the bill counting machine.
According to the present invention, a stopper is provided so as to be locatable at a projecting position in a bill conveying passage downstream of a sensor device and when an unacceptable bill is detected or two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed, the stopper is located at the projecting position in the bill conveying passage by a discriminating and counting means. Therefore, the bill discriminated as unacceptable and the following bill, or two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill are stopped by the stopper, thereby being prevented from advancing to the bill stacking section. Further, since the stopper located at the projecting position is accessible from the outside of the main body of the bill counting machine, the bill discriminated as unacceptable and the following bill, or two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill can be easily and reliably collected. As a consequence, it is unnecessary to provide a separate collecting section for collecting the bill discriminated as unacceptable and two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed, thereby enabling the bill counting machine to be made compact, and it is possible to reliably prevent the bill following the unacceptable bill from jamming when the operation of the bill counting machine is restarted.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the stopper is constituted so as to be movable between a retracted position where it does not interfere with bills conveyed in the bill conveying passage by the bill conveying means and the projecting position where it projects into the bill conveying passage.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the stopper is constituted so as to be swingable between the retracted position and the projecting position.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the stopper is constituted so as to be driven by a solenoid and the discriminating and counting means is adapted for actuating the solenoid, thereby moving the stopper between the retracted position and the projecting position.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the stopper can be driven by the solenoid, when an unacceptable bill is detected or when it is discriminated that two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed, the stopper can be quickly moved to the projecting position, thereby causing it to stop the bill discriminated as unacceptable and the following bill, or two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the stopper is formed to be frame-like by a linear member so as to form at least one opening.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the stopper is formed to be frame-like by a linear member so as to form at least one opening, the air resistance can be reduced when the stopper is moved. Therefore, when an unacceptable bill is detected or when it is discriminated that two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed, the stopper can be quickly moved to the projecting position, thereby causing it to stop the bill discriminated to be unacceptable and the following bill, or two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill. Further, the stopper can be located with a high degree of freedom while it is prevented from interfering with other constituents of the bill counting machine.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises at least one vane wheel for stacking counted bills in the bill stacking section and the at least one vane wheel is disposed in the at least one opening of the stopper.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, an outer wall portion of the main body of the bill counting machine is formed with at least one opening and the at least one vane wheel is disposed in the at least one opening formed in the outer wall portion while the stopper is disposed outside of the main body of the bill counting machine.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the stopper is disposed outside of the main body of the bill counting machine, the operator can easily and reliably collect the bill discriminated as unacceptable and the following bill, or two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill stopped by the stopper.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises a sensor for detecting bills conveyed in the bill conveying passage and the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to stop the bill take-out means at a time when the discriminating and counting means discriminates that a bill is unacceptable or at a time when the discriminating and counting means discriminates that two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed by the bill conveying means, to locate the stopper at the projecting position in the bill conveying passage at a time when the sensor detects the bill discriminated as unacceptable by the discriminating and counting means or the two or more bills being simultaneously conveyed by the bill conveying means, and to stop the bill conveying means when a predetermined time period has passed after the stopper was located at the projecting position in the bill conveying passage.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to stop the bill take-out means at a time when the discriminating and counting means discriminates that a bill is unacceptable or at a time when the discriminating and counting means discriminates that two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed by the bill conveying means, it is possible to prevent any further bill subsequent to the bill following the bill discriminated as unacceptable or the bill following the two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed from being taken out into the bill counting machine. Further, since the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to stop the bill conveying means when a predetermined time period has passed after the stopper was located at the projecting position in the bill conveying passage, it is possible to reliably cause only a bill discriminated as unacceptable and the following bill, or only two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill to come into abutment against the stopper and to be stopped. Therefore, the operator can easily and reliably collect the bill discriminated as unacceptable and the following bill, or two or more bills discriminated to be simultaneously conveyed and the following bill.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises memory means for storing a count determined by the discriminating and counting means, and the discriminating and counting means is adapted to store a count for each denomination of bills in a bill count memory area of the memory means when it discriminates that the bill is acceptable.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since a count for each denomination of bills is stored in the bill count memory area of the memory means when it discriminates that the bill is acceptable, even if bills of various denominations are mixed, bills can be efficiently counted.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises memory means for storing a count determined by the discriminating and counting means and when the discriminating and counting means discriminates that a bill is acceptable but the denomination thereof is different from a reference denomination, it locates the stopper at the projecting position in the bill conveying passage without counting the bill of the denomination different from the reference denomination and a following bill.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to locate the stopper at the projecting position in the bill conveying passage when it detects the bill of the denomination different from the reference denomination, it is possible to reliably cause the bill of the denomination different from the reference denomination and the following bill to come into abutment against the stopper and to be stopped. Therefore, the operator can easily and reliably collect the bill of the denomination different from the reference denomination and the following bill.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to define a denomination of a bill first discriminated as acceptable as the reference denomination.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, by setting bills so that a bill of the denomination whose number is greatest is first discriminated, it is possible to automatically stack bills of the denomination whose number is greatest.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises reference denomination setting means for specifying the reference denomination.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises reporting means for reporting results of discrimination made by the discriminating and counting means, and the discriminating and counting means is constituted so that, when it discriminates that a bill is unacceptable or that two or more bills are being simultaneously conveyed by the bill conveying means, it causes the reporting means to report that the bill was discriminated as unacceptable or that it was discriminated that two or more bills were being simultaneously conveyed by the bill conveying means, the reporting means being constituted as a means selected from a group consisting of a display means for displaying results of bill discrimination and an alarm means for generating an alarm.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the operator can easily and reliably perceive that an unacceptable bill has been detected or that two or more bills have been simultaneously conveyed by the bill conveying means and that the unacceptable bill and the following bill or the two or more bills simultaneously conveyed and the following bill have been stopped by the stopper. Therefore, the operator can easily and reliably collect the unacceptable bill and the following bill or the two or more bills simultaneously conveyed and the following bill stopped by the stopper.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill counting machine further comprises reporting means for reporting results of discrimination made by the discriminating and counting means, and the discriminating and counting means is constituted so that, when it detects a bill of a denomination different from the reference denomination, it causes the reporting means to report that the bill of a denomination different from the reference denomination has been detected, the reporting means being constituted as a means selected from a group consisting of a display means for displaying results of bill counting and an alarm means for generating an alarm.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the operator can easily and reliably perceive that a bill of a denomination different from the reference denomination has been detected and that the bill of a denomination different from the reference denomination and the following bill have been stopped by the stopper. Therefore, the operator can easily and reliably collect the bill of a denomination different from the reference denomination and the following bill stopped by the stopper.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill setting section is constituted so as to hold a greater number of bills than that the number of bills stackable in the bill stacking section and the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to define an operation for counting bills until a maximum number of bills stackable in the bill stacking section have been stacked therein as one counting cycle, increase a bill count and stores the thus increased bill count every time it detects a bill to be counted, thereby counting bills to be counted until one counting cycle is completed, stop the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means and store a bill count determined during the counting cycle in a tentative count memory area in the memory means as a tentative bill count every time one counting cycle of bills is completed, and then drive the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means, thereby starting a succeeding counting cycle of bills set in the bill setting section.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the bill setting section is constituted so as to hold a greater number of bills than the number of bills stackable in the bill stacking section and the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to define an operation for counting bills until the maximum number of bills stackable in the bill stacking section have been stacked as one counting cycle, increase the bill count and store the thus increased bill count every time it detects a bill to be counted, thereby counting bills to be counted until one counting cycle is completed, stop the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means and store the bill count determined during the counting cycle in a tentative count memory area in the memory means as a tentative bill count every time one counting cycle of bills is completed, and then drives the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means, thereby starting the succeeding counting cycle of bills set in the bill setting section. Therefore, even if bill jamming occurs and the counting of bills is stopped, since the counting of bills can be restarted by setting the tentative count determined in previous counting cycles as an initial value, it is unnecessary to recount the bills and even if the bill counting machine is made compact by omitting provision of an unacceptable bill collecting means and an unacceptable bill collecting section, it is still possible to prevent bill counting efficiency from being lowered and efficiently count bills.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to overwrite the tentative count determined and stored in the tentative count memory area of the memory means at the proximate counting cycle with a bill count determined in the counting cycle every time one counting cycle is completed, thereby updating the tentative count, and to store the thus updated tentative count in the tentative count memory area of the memory means.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to overwrite the tentative count determined and stored in the tentative count memory area of the memory means at the proximate counting cycle with a bill count determined in the counting cycle every time one counting cycle is completed, thereby updating the tentative count and to store the thus updated tentative count in the tentative count memory area of the memory means. Therefore, even if bill jamming occurs and the counting of bills is stopped, since the counting of bills can be restarted by setting the tentative count determined in previous counting cycles as an initial value, it is unnecessary to recount the bills and even if the bill counting machine is made compact by omitting provision of an unacceptable bill collecting means and an unacceptable bill collecting section, it is still possible to prevent bill counting efficiency from being lowered and efficiently count bills.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the discriminating and counting means is constituted so that when it discriminates that bill jamming has occurred in the bill counting machine it stops the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means, clears the bill count stored in the bill count memory area of the memory means, stores the tentative count stored in the tentative count memory area as an initial value of the bill count in the bill count memory area, and drives the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means, thereby restarting the counting of bills set in the bill setting section.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the discriminating and counting means is constituted so that when it discriminates that bill jamming has occurred in the bill counting machine it stops the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means, clears the bill count stored in the bill count memory area of the memory means, stores the tentative count stored in the tentative count memory area as an initial value of the bill count in the bill count memory area, and drives the bill take-out means and the bill conveying means, thereby restarting the counting of bills set in the bill setting section. Therefore, although it is impossible to judge how many bills are jammed and it is normally necessary to recount bills when bill jamming occurs, according to this preferred aspect of the present invention, bill counting can be restarted using the tentative bill count determined in all counting cycles already performed as an initial value and it is possible to markedly efficiently count bills.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the discriminating and counting means is constituted so as to store the number of counted bills for each denomination in the bill count memory area of the memory means and store the number of bills for each denomination counted in the counting cycles already performed as a tentative bill count in the tentative count memory area of the memory means.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description made with reference to the accompanying drawings.